Optimixed Search News

Google Search Rankings Volatile, OpenAI Makes Sources Harder to Find

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News

TLDR

Google experienced a notable ranking volatility spike over August 12–13, while OpenAI began hiding ChatGPT source links behind additional clicks.

Optimixed Overview

Optimixed's original report on this story.

SERoundtable reports that Google Search results saw a spike in ranking volatility on August 12–13, with movement outside the typical day-to-day variance. Meanwhile, OpenAI is testing or rolling out a change to ChatGPT's interface that moves the sources button from the footer to a three-dot menu, making it less visible and requiring additional clicks—an update that could discourage users from verifying response sources.

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